Plan B magazine

R.I.P plan B.

You will never be forgotten just like CTCL.

I have met and been inspired by many readers and writers of this magazine and I wish everyone involved success in their future ventures.

I hope the forum can stay alive because it would be ashame to lose touch with people. I'm not exaggerating when I say this place has been life changing.

A sad loss to the music community.

B

x

I wish I'd been a little more active on this forum, as it seems to have affected people as much, if not more, than the magazine has me. But then, being on my little island rather than out there in the big wide world, it's difficult for anything on here to lend itself to reality, to collaborations or anything of the sort. But still.

It wouldn't be an exageration to say that Plan B has been a massive factor in my life for the past three and a half years or so that I've been reading it. It's been practically my only point of reference for new and "up and coming" bands for an awful long time, and the only music magazine I've been reading on a regular basis - certainly the only one which I've put any stock in the opinions of, and the only one that's kept me consistently entertained. I can't imagine not being able to get a slight wry chuckle out of the Single's Club any more.

There's definitely going to be a hole in my musical points of reference from next month. On a personal note, it genuinely seems like a paradigm shift for me, as I've lost both Plan B and my favourite band (The Lucksmiths) in the space of a couple of weeks. Someone's trying to tell me something, I know it.

In any event, I will be keeping a very eager eye on whatever the Plan B contributors will be getting up to from now on, and I hope that the community built up around all this won't be going anywhere any time soon.


Stevie
x

oh no!

this makes me really sad. very very sad. i can't remember what i did before, but i've looked forward to getting every issue since it started.

rip Plan B

it was amazing.

This is pure weak mannn..........


also, Guanoman NEVER made it on the cover like I wanted and hoped.

I just wanted to answer this question. For me, the answer is no. This is not to slight the sterling work of the above websites, because they're great examples of how web publishing can work. However, I feel very committed to print as a medium. There are many reasons for this, a lot of which can be picked apart and thrown aside as luddite, fetishistic, elitist, or just plain old-fashioned, and you're welcome to do so...but it's a commitment that I can't switch off just because making this particular print product is no longer viable.

It is not that I'm decrying the web for making "everyone a critic". I don't think the web has killed criticism, not at all. It's not that I am bemoaning the loss of "authority" of the critic - fuck authority, it's that which has kept music criticism entrenched in such narrow gender, race and class strictures for so long (and I'd argue, actually, that the web has done less than it should to change this, but the potential is there for sure). I like a plurality of voices, wherever it occurs, although I do think that plurality often results in a lack of space to think and consider and to reflect; it seems to have generated this need for a quick response, an instant appraisal or commentary.

One thing I like about print criticism is that there is an unavoidable temporal gap between writing and print. This may not suit everyone, but I think it suits me and it suits the music I am interested in, and actually it probably suits most music. I do sometimes wonder if there is more of a connection between the music that gets reviewed and the style of reviewing than we actually acknowledge. Bit of unformulated thought, that, but I'd like to ponder it a little.

Although it might not always seem like it, we do edit things at Plan B. If you've written something for us, it will go through a few hands and past a few pairs of eyes before it appears on the page. If there's time, we ask for rewrites and clarification. I like to have a little shout at everyone about punctuation. We have to stick to certain word lengths. I'm not saying web editors don't do this too, but often more content is required at a greater speed. Put simply, it's just different, and while I'd certainly work for online publications as a freelance writer, there's no way I'd have busted my ass for five years on a very, very low wage to set up and maintain a web magazine. That's not to say one shouldn't, or that others at Plan B won't. But it's not for me. It never has been.

The other big factor is the visual side of Plan B, which is so important to us. The web - and again, this is my opinion - is not the right place for all those amazing photos and illustrations and layouts that go into making up an issue of Plan B. They belong on paper, decent paper at that. Photographers deserve good post-production work (which Cat and Sarah should be enormously praised for); illustrators deserve to have similar care taken with their work (ditto Andrew).

Those are my thoughts on the matter at this point - they're not representative of Plan B as a whole. We are talking about archiving back issues online, because I think they're a great resource for everyone.

Really sad news. I was never a frequent poster on this forum but I will miss the magazine a great deal. It is the only music mag I buy, and I've never missed an issue.

I'm slightly disappointed that it won't continue online, but of course I respect Frances' views. Instead of a website like pitchfork etc would it not be possible to have a digital version of the magazine which subscribers can download? Just another option, but I'm clutching at straws here and I'm not even sure that would be viable.

Anyways best of luck to all of you!

I don't know now whether it's too sycophantic, but I wrote something here about the magazine. That says about all I wanted to say.

I haven't really posted on the forum for a while, but it was still nice to have this space of intelligent, communal discourse with rad people; so, thanks for that. I wanted to say thank you again to everyone involved for maintaining an island of righteousness in a sea of dross, for 5 whole years, and the editors, Louis and kick especially for letting me be part of it.

DB xx

I closed my DJ set last night with "Plan B" by Dexys in tribute. Only one person picked up on it (to the best of my knowledge), but that's enough!

I would have to echo Frances in saying no to a web edition, I have nothing against web publishing but the idea of porting over Plan B as it currently exists to the web doesn't work for me at all, it's conceived on all levels as a print document and it wouldn't make any sense to me to cram that onto the web. Nor would it solve any particular financial woes, I don't think, web advertising being in much the same state as print.

This is very sad. Like Dookerdoo, Plan B is the only magazine I've ever subscribed to, over and over and now no longer.

I wish those involved the best of luck with future projects.

x

This sucks, big time. I feel really guilty now for never getting around to subscribing. Nonetheless, I will miss you, Plan B. You did indeed rule.

Are the website and these accompanying forums going to stay?

Did I see mention of making back issue content available online?

i'm glad that you've said this (here), because this (along with the rest of your post) is pretty much what i have been saying to folks that have asked about whether the mag will go online... but i've been doing so with half my mouth closed, because i wasn't 100% sure if was echoing the correct sentiments. for what it's worth (about 15p, I reckon), I totally agree with you. in every respect. In fact, you may as well move in to my brain and take over, to save me the hassle of thinking...

Look at this



Oh and - what writer are you going on about you chickenshit? And why the fuck would I wanna follow that link you 'political-correctness-gone-mad'-mantra-repeating arsehole? M'afraid I haven't read anything from a Wapping paper in over 2 decades and I aint gonna start now - Oh - and all apologies for Plan B covering a variety of music. Jesus, what a terrible thing for a music magazine to do. Don't worry - the shelves are free now for the kind of apolitical rock-cheerleading you obviously dig numbnuts or should I say Father Fred?

Woah what the fuck Neil, that post by Jasper Gizzfucker or whatever is certainly nothing to do with me (under this name or Fiddleford) so fuck right off. I don't post that much at all so I don't know why the fuck you are accusing me and if nothing else I am quite sad about Plan B's demise as I have been buying the magazine for quite some time. I also don't ever recall slagging the magazine off (which would be ridiculous as I have practically every single issue, along with CTCL) and also I found his post quite pathetic.

A thousand apologies. I've edited the post.

Thanks Neil, very much appreciated and sorry about the fuck you.

More importantly the end of Plan B fills me with great sadness, I hope all the writers and staff can find wonderful and creative endeavours! All the best and thanks for the memories.

Note to interested readers - a couple of abusive posts by a longstanding board troll have been deleted - Mr K does not just go around calling people cunts.

Neil, Raja, if you want yr posts deleted let me know.

- WH

meanwhile, over at his blog - the good news....

everetttrue Says:
May 30, 2009 at 2:58 pm | Reply

As the man says (oh wait, that’s me), this isn’t an ending, it’s a beginning. There’s no fucking way we’re going away now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicbl ... remembered

but, what were the cringeworthy bits?

i really never found any bits like that.

Much as I like and respect David, I don't like that piece. It makes Plan B sound like cutesy-woo cutnpaste frippery. Considering how often that criticism comes up - and really, really undeservedly - from the more pompous sections of the music press, I'm loath to see it reinforced.

Exceptionally late post to this thread. I heard 'the news' when I was on holiday and then life has been a bit mental since I got back. And then I wasn't sure what I wanted to say and blah blah prevaricate repeat..

Anyway, I hadn't bought a music magazine regularly in a very very very long time when I bought my first Plan B and got hooked straightaway. I loved the range of stuff you covered - no other magazine has done that so well ever. And I loved that I was constantly being introduced to new stuff. And it looked great and was just a pleasure to turn the pages lazily while supping tea on the sofa. So a huge thank you and love to everyone who worked on it. I know I'm going to spend months in the shop round the corner staring at the magazine racks looking a bit lost. I actually bought Classic Rock the other day cos there's a Blue Cheer interview in it - this did not make me feel better.

my first post-B piece is, depressingly enough, an effort to fill in the gaps of the official story and give my take on why we mattered - over at drowned in sound...